Growing up in Montana, I never really considered our state a dangerous place to drive. Sure, we've got treacherous conditions in the winter, lots of deer and elk crossing roads, a disturbingly high rate of drunk drivers, and for a brief period we didn't even have a speed limit on the interstate. Remember "reasonable and prudent?" Good times. Car and Driver wrote a sweet headline in 2017 that screamed, Montana Was Once the Last Bastion of Hot, Nasty, Bad-Ass Speed.

But "dangerous?" No. The simple fact is that Montana remains relatively unpopulated. Fewer vehicles on the road = less chance of an accident. Yeah, Bozeman and Missoula get a little congested at times, but Billings honestly flows quite smoothly for the most part, and like 90% of our state is wide-open highways. That said... data has revealed what day, month, and time of day is the most dangerous time to be on the road. Let's dig in.

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The not-so-shocking fact.

Insurance company Assurance recently compiled fatal accident data from 2020 and shared what times, days, and months are most likely to cause an accident in each state. Unsurprisingly, nearly every state (42, including Montana) reported that most fatal car accidents occurred on Saturdays.

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Another reason to call in sick on Mondays.

The study also revealed which weekday is the most deadly for driving, and in Montana it's Mondays. Yay.

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Summer driving is more deadly than winter.

It's easy to assume that winter months have the most traffic fatalities in Montana, but the data doesn't lie. July is actually the most dangerous month to be on the roads in the Treasure State.

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Is there a good time of day or night to stay off the roads?

This was the most surprising tidbit I found in the report. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data reveals that between 2 pm and 3 pm is the time you are most likely to get into a fatal accident in Montana. Not 2 am when the bars close, but 2 pm... right around the time parents are picking up school kids. I never would have guessed mid-afternoon to be so hazardous on the streets.

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